Key information on Stage 13 of the 2026 Tour de France
- Friday, 17 July: Dole – Belfort
- 205.8 kilometres, 2,400 metres of elevation gain (hilly)
- Mountain climbs: km 157.4 (Category 3), km 175.9 (Category 1)
- Intermediate sprint: 137.8 km
- Start: 1.00 pm, Finish: approx. 5.46 pm
- Live updates and results
The route of the 13th stage of the Tour de France
After two days of sprints, the Tour de France heads back into the mountains for the 13th stage. However, this doesn’t happen until the end of the stage. Although the day begins in Dole, in the foothills of the Jura, the first 150 kilometres – all of which run in a north-easterly direction – are flat. Shortly before that, there will be another sprint finish in Mélisey, the home town of crowd favourite Thibaut Pinot. But that’s all just a warm-up.
Whilst some stages of this tour would have long since reached the finish line by now, the decisive section is still to come on this 206-kilometre stage – the only one of this tour to exceed the 200-kilometre mark. The Vosges have been reached. First, the Col de Croix (Category 3) must be climbed. And then comes the Ballon d’Alsace (Category 1), which stretches for 8.9 kilometres with an average gradient of 6.9 per cent.
From the summit, it’s another 30 kilometres to the finish in Belfort, most of which runs southwards – and is almost entirely downhill. The route becomes quite winding again as you approach the finish, and there’s even a 90-degree right-hand bend 300 metres from the finish line.
A sporting analysis of Stage 13 of the 2026 Tour de France
Essentially, a stage like the 13th of the 2026 Tour is classic breakaway territory. A long day where, in terms of the route profile, little happens at first, with a tough climb in the final stretch but no mountain finish. But what is normal in this Tour anyway? Whether a breakaway group forms and how good their chances of a stage win are will ultimately depend once again on the plans of Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates – XRG. If the man in yellow decides he wants to fight for the stage win, his team-mates will keep the breakaway group on such a tight leash that he’ll attack at the balloon and probably win as well.
However, if he has no desire to attack ahead of the far more challenging second stage in the Vosges, the chances of a large group heading into the mountains with a substantial lead are greater than on almost any other stage of this tour.
Either way, the battle for the top spot on the day’s leaderboard is set to be a tough one and is likely to go on for a long time, as only seven of the 23 teams have managed to secure a victory so far. All the others will have to prove themselves, as there will be very little to gain from the remaining mountain finishes.
